Rock, pop & grooving..

 

Good afternoon everybody, I trust you are all well? I come to you today from a dressing room in the glorious Sage in Gateshead, where our Classic Rock Show tour has landed and will be performing tonight! It's been quite a long week - we started in Leeds on Wednesday, then went to Salford on Thursday, and hit Harrogate yesterday (pictured was my 'star' dressing room in Harrogate's lovely old Royal Hall). It is a beautiful, sunny and crisp day, and I have shopped for the starving band and crew, watched an episode of 'Coronation Street' (one of my guilty pleasures), washed my hair, and pulled out one of the strangest things to ever come out of a suitcase...a cowbell.

So, I'm catching up with you all now, to say I'm still here, sorry to have been quiet this month, and sending rock vibes to all. The show is going swimmingly - I have been testing out my organ skills during 'Bat Out Of Hell' and a couple of other songs, grooving like a mad woman, playing the cowbell like it's going out of fashion, and singing my heart out. A good, productive January so far on the music side!

Hope your January is rolling by splendidly. Until next time,

Emily x

Ring in the new

 

To be honest with you, and without wanting to 'wish my life away', I am so pleased to welcome 2015, and say a fond farewell to 2014 - a year of change, of limbo, of choices and experiences and a lot of wobbles; a year of highs and lows, of joy and tears, and more solitude than I would have liked, in hindsight.

When I welcomed in 2014, I had made some game-changing decisions. I felt brave, empowered, and on the edge of what I knew; I have no regrets, and can say that I feel proud of myself. My hope was to move into a phase of openness, of potential shifts in circumstance, and new possibility; I attempted to balance my life by giving myself the gift of time, to explore previously overlooked paths, and to experiment a little. I had big dreams, of peace, tranquillity and fulfilment, of renewed energy and an uncluttered mind. I can't berate myself too much for not achieving everything on the 'list' - finish my novel and record my album, amongst other things(!) - as it was optimistic (ten years' worth of 'putting things off' had become a rather long 'to do' list!)

To be fair to myself, I have put myself out there, to a point; I have worked in slightly different circles, meeting fresh faces and pushing my boundaries, but as 2014 came to a close I realised that my mind is still cluttered. Some things cling on by their nails, refusing to budge from my brain, and as I try to see off old habits that certainly do die hard, I have also found a load of new ones. Uncertainty and doubt are not my friends - they are nobody's friends! - and my hope for 2015 is that I can shed some of that self-doubt that has crippled me in the past so that I can continue to move forward with a light heart.

'Balance' is my word for 2015. Find it if I can, build on it, and try to maintain it. 

What's your word for this new year? Wishing you all a fabulous start to 2015!

Xx